Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

TELL EL-BALAMUN

EGYPT

negative linear anomaly corresponding both
to excavation trenches of the British Museum
expedition and the sand-filled foundation.
To the north of the front of the Amun
temple lies the elite cemetery, excavated in
1998-1999 (Spencer 1999: 70-72; 2003,
20-30). The many excavation trenches in
the area show up as negative anomalies (in
the eastern part of G6 and the western part
of G7), but their presence actually obscures
details of the tombs themselves.
Just outside the front of the temple, to
the northwest, the magnetic map reveals a
clear rectangular area of slightly lower
magnetic values, measuring 16 by 32 m (in
the western part of G6, crossing into G5); it
corresponds to the sand-filled foundation of
the Thirtieth-Dynasty Mammisi, studied by
excavation in 1998 (Spencer 1999: 56-57).
The lesser contrast between the sand fill of
the foundation as compared to the environs
is due to the lesser depth of this foundation
than in the case of the naos of the Temple of
Amun (from 0.30 to 0.50 m for tht Mammisi,
see Spencer 1999: Pi. 66). The linear anomaly
seen immediately to the southwest of the
Mammisi (and parallel to it) corresponds to

the edge of a small subsidiary temple, also
excavated in 1998, and probably dating
from the Third Intermediate Period
(Spencer 1999: 73). The thin negative
anomaly between these two features (in the
southeastern part of G6) marks the position
of a cross-section trench dug in 1998.3
The area between the Mammisi and the
projected wall of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty
features fairly stable values of magnetic field
intensity. The only anomaly that appears to
correspond to the remains of architecture is
visible in the center of F5, but this has not
been tested by excavation.
In the western corner of the mapped area
fragments of a structure perpendicular to
the enclosure walls were recorded (between
Gl and H2). The structure is most likely
a wall, 3 m wide, furnished with evidently
projecting sections on the southwestern
side. This wall adjoins the southeastern side
of a square complex, 21 m to the side, seen
in Gl. This complex, which still lies
concealed in the waterlogged part of the site
waiting to be mapped, could not have
existed before the destruction of the
Thirtieth-Dynasty wall.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL TESTING OF STRUCTURES
MAPPED IN THE GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY

In 2007 (and in 2008) the structure
discovered in front of the Nectanebo temple
continued to be excavated (for earlier work,
cf. Herbich, Spencer 2008). Half of the
building, comprising the northeast and
southeast walls together with the entire
southern corner, was excavated in 2007
(Trench T5 in Fig. 5) and the remaining
walls were cleared in the Spring season of

2008 (Trench T6). The blocks of the lowest
course of all the walls were found to be in
their original positions, set on a bed of sand,
but the masonry of the upper courses had
been greatly disturbed during quarrying
opera-tions in the Roman period [Fig. 6\. At
the conclusion of this quarrying, the site was
left to fill up gradually with rain-washed
mud, so the fill above the masonry

3 The area in which the Mammisi and the small subsidiary temple he was mapped during the short foray in 2008, aimed at
reducing the area left unmapped because of waterlogged conditions.

138

Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007